I haven’t always been good about keeping goals.

Let’s not do the New Year’s Resolution thing, all right? Plenty of failure there.

But I’ve noticed something. The goals I tend to reach are the ones that I’m the most passionate about. Co-incidence? I think not.

Intentions are great, but without action they are empty winter branches swaying in the wind. (Don’t worry. I don’t really know what that means either.)

About fifteen years ago, a friend asked if there was something that I wanted to accomplish by the time I was 40. (About 10 years into the future.)

My only response was this: I want to write a book.

I didn’t care what book. I had nothing in mind. I just wanted to write a book. It was my goal. Did I reach it? Well, almost.

I didn’t realize this at the time, but I finished writing my very first play (with a group of students – still unpublished, by the way) in December 2007 – two months after I turned 40. A full-length play is kind of like a book, right?

After that, each year I wrote another play until I wrote a novella based on one of those plays in December 2010. Once that was complete, I felt ready to try and tackle my first novel, which I did in the summer of 2011 – Beauty Rising. Summer of 2012 – The Recluse Storyteller. Summer of 2013 – The Reach of the Banyan Tree. 2014 – I have two more ready to go.

It has been really satisfying for me to have not only reached my goal but sped on past it. Writing has certainly become a passion of mine, and I hope it will always continues.

In the meantime, other goals have come and gone without ever reaching the goal lines. Some goals I’ll never accomplish, but I remain focused on the ones that mean the most to me.

What goals do you have? Find your passion and you probably will reach them. And don’t ever be disappointed by not reaching your goal before an arbitrary date which ultimately has no meaning. Keep striving for what you want. You may be surprised at how much your dedication to your passion one day pays off.